Since almost all forms of life need water to survive, the improvement of water quality in decontamination systems has typically been a subject of significant interest. As a result, treatment systems and techniques for removing contaminants from contaminated fluids have been developed in the past. Prior approaches have included water treatment by applying various microorganisms, enzymes and nutrients for the microorganisms in water. Other approaches involve placing chemicals in the contaminated fluids, such as chlorine, in an effort to decontaminate supplies. Some such systems have proved to be somewhat successful; however, sever deficiencies in each approach may still be prominent.
Many modern contamination treatment systems employ photoreactive materials in a slurry that subject contaminants to a photocatalytic reaction. As a consequence of the photocatalytic reaction, contaminants will be destroyed and removed from the slurry. Chemical additives may be combined with the slurry before the slurry is subjected to a photocatalytic reaction by treatment system 116. Such an additive system is denoted by reference numeral 118. Chemical additives are preferably oxidants, such as air, oxygen, and hydrogen peroxide. Oxidants provide additional oxygen and balance the use of positive and negative charges.
However, although the decontamination industry favors the use of hydrogen peroxide in decontamination systems, its presence can also be detrimental in other regards in certain systems, such as photoreactive decontamination systems. In example of such a photocatalytic reactor may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 5,462,674, which is commonly assigned with the present disclosure and incorporated herein by reference in its entirety for all purposes. Because of its potential detrimental affects, removal of the peroxide is often desired. Unfortunately, peroxide removal in the industry is typically difficult and expensive. One way to remove it is to use catalase; however, such an approach is typically very expensive and is typically only used in laboratory environments. Raising the pH of the solution within the decontamination system is another approach, but this approach requires large amounts of basic additives, which is not typically suitable for portable or high quality water. In addition, this technique often requites a long retention time for the peroxide to be broken down. Accordingly, a technique for the quick and inexpensive removal of hydrogen peroxide for within decontamination systems is desired.